Renovation and expansion work at the Haags Historisch Museum has reached the building’s highest point.
The city’s alderwoman for culture, Lotte van Basten Batenburg, and museum director Tjeerd Vrij raised the Hague flag on the roof, a traditional tribute to the tradespeople on the project.
The renovation began in the autumn of 2024 and the renewed museum is due to reopen in mid-2028.
Most of the demolition work is done, and the façades and window frames have been cleaned, painted and repaired where needed.
The renovated façade on the Hofvijver side is already out of the scaffolding.
The project is meant to make the museum better suited to school groups, more accessible to people with disabilities and more sustainable.
A heat pump and solar panels are planned, along with extra space for exhibitions, educational programmes and public activities.
Work on the listed building has proved technically complex, with old foundations and an old watercourse in the ground forcing a redesign of the new foundation.
Part of the planned sustainability work is also proving difficult because the electricity grid is overloaded.
Meanwhile the museum’s panorama Gezicht op Den Haag by Jan van Goyen is on free display in the Atrium of the city hall.
